Improvement in the manufacture of white lead



a. F. HATFIELD.

Making White Lead.

No. 109,125. Patnted Nov. 8, 1870.

N. PETERS Phntoinlmnnuher. Washhlpton, D. L

I l HI Min 5555 gm 2 I @whu ram 5x5 IT STATES PATENT DFFICE.

ROBERT F. HATFIELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO HANNEN LEAD COMPANY,OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WHITE LEAD.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 109.125, dated November8, 1870.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT F. HATFIELD,

of the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of White Lead;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to makeand use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawing,forming part of this specification. This invention relates to thosemethods of manufacturing white lead in which the comininuted lead isdeposited in gas-tight chambers, and therein submitted to the action ofacetic acid and carbonic-acid gas.

Difficulties have been heretofore experienced in properly treating thelead with the acetic acid. The ordinary method is to sprinkle the acidupon the lead by means of perforated pipes or roses; but this method isfaulty, as the acid is not divided with sufficient fineness, and it isimpossible to make it penetrate every portion of the lead piles or driveit into contact with all parts of the lead surfaces.

My improvement consists in spraying the acetic acid by means of an airor gas jet, substantially as hereinafter described.

Figure 1 shows one form of a portable apparatus which may be employedfor spraying the acetic acid. Fig. 2 shows a method of illjecting theaceticacid spray upon the lead without opening the lead-chamber.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A, Fig. 1, is a portable vessel containing the acetic acid, from whichrises a vertical tube, B, at the orifice of which, set horizontally, isan air or gas tube, 0. The rear part of the tube 0 is provided with aflexible hose-pipe, D, which communicates with an air or gas pump, orreservoir containing compressed air or compressed gas.

When a strong current of air or gas is blown through tube 0 it causesthe acetic acid to rise in tube B, and discharges the acid in thedirection of the arrow in the form of a fine mist or spray.

By means of this instrument the lead may be quickly bathed with a finespray of acetic acid, which, owing to its light and vaporized condition,will penetrate the lead mass and quickly reach all its exposed parts.

When it is desired to inject the acid-spray without opening theleadchamber, the pipes 13 O are passed through the partition E of suchchambers F, where the lead is arranged on shelves, in the usual manner,as shown in Fig. 2.

The pipes O D may be made movable, if desired, so as to change thedirection of the injection at will.

The carbonic-acid gas required to convert the lead may be used toproduce the spraying of the acetic acid, the gas being driven throughthe pipe 0, as above described, and the said gas, or any other gas orair used for the purpose of spraying, may be heated to the desiredtemperature before it is passed through the pipe 0. Two o1 erations-thatof spraying and ofsupplyin g the necessary carbonic-acid gasmay be thussimultaneously carried on.

The acetic acid maybe heated before spraying to any desired temperature.

Besides acetic acid, anyother liquid chemical substances or solutionsmay be sprayed or vaporized and applied to the lead or within the leadchamber, as hereinbefore described.

I do not limit or confine myself to the particular parts or form ofspraying apparatus. These may be varied in many ways without departingfrom my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The process above described of applying acetic acid to comminutedlead deposited in the bottom of gastight chambers for making white lead,which consists in subdividing and spraying the acetic acid on the leadby forcing therethrough a current of air or 2. In the manufacture ofwhite lead, the process above described of spraying acetic acid uponlead by impinging upon it a counter-current of air or gas, for thepurpose of distributing it in the form of a fine mist about thecomminuted particles of lead.

3. The process of simultaneously applying carbonic-acid gas and aceticacid by forcing them together in counter-currents upon the subdividedlead in an air-tight chamber, as described.

4. The combination of an acid-pipe, B, and a gas-pipe, 0, having theirdischarging-channels at right angles to each other, as and for thepurpose described.

R. F. HATFIELD.

Witnesses Gno. W. MABEE, ALEX. F. ROBERTS.

